CHENANGO
COUNTY
–
As
Cash
for
Clunkers
winds
down,
area
dealers
are
still
waiting
to
receive
hundreds
of
thousands
of
dollars
in
payments
from
the
federal
government
for
vehicles
they
have
sold
as
a
result
of
the
incentive
program.

“It’s
really
put
a
strain
on
our
resources,”
said
Trip
deCordova,
president
of
The
Benedict
Corporation.
His
GMC,
Cadillac,
Pontiac
and
Subaru
dealership
has
more
than
20
applications
still
in
limbo,
he
said,
which
translates
into
more
than
$100,000
they
have
yet
to
collect.

The
Norwich
car
dealer
knows
he’s
not
the
only
one
still
waiting
to
see
any
cash
for
the
clunker
deals
he’s
sealed.

“We’ve
heard
all
sorts
of
rumors,”
he
said,
describing
reports
he’s
read
in
industry
magazines
of
larger
dealerships
who
were
still
waiting
on
a
million
dollar
or
more.
He
personally
knows
of
one
dealer
who
has
received
payment
on
only
two
of
the
100
cars
he
sold
through
Cash
for
Clunkers,
and
another
in
Wisconsin
paid
for
just
three
of
the
80
they
sold.

While
deCordova
said
Cash
for
Clunkers
has
been
successful
in
the
fact
that
it
has
stirred
up
consumer
interest
in
purchasing
both
new
and
used
vehicles,
he
still
calls
the
execution
of
the
program
an
“administrative
nightmare”
for
dealers.

“I
don’t
think
they
had
any
idea
how
this
would
go
off,”
he
said.

Since
the
Cars
Allowance
Rebate
System
(CARS),
as
it
is
officially
known,
commenced
car
owners
across
the
country
have
been
taking
advantage
of
the
program,
trading
in
their
old
gas
guzzlers
in
exchange
for
up
to
$4,500
off
new,
more
fuel
efficient
models.
According
to
an
Automotive
News
report,
the
U.S.
Department
of
Transportation
reported
that
more
than
635,186
transactions
totaling
$2.65
billion
had
been
processed
as
of
7:47
a.m.
Monday.

The
number
of
transactions
has
repeatedly
overwhelmed
the
government
website
he
and
others
dealers
use
to
file
applications.
On
Friday,
deCordova
said,
the
site
was
down
for
4
hours
and
entering
six
deals,
which
should
have
taken
less
than
an
hour,
took
five.
He
was
keeping
his
fingers
crossed
Monday
morning,
hoping
that
they
wouldn’t
experience
similar
problems
with
the
site
as
dealers
across
the
country
tried
to
get
applications
in
before
the
8
p.m.
deadline.

The
site
did
in
fact
experience
more
problems
Monday
afternoon,
prompting
the
DOT
to
extend
the
submission
deadline
until
noon
today.
There
was
no
extension,
however,
on
Cash
for
Clunker
sales.

Hank
Scudder,
general
manager
of
Christman
Motors
in
Norwich,
wasn’t
concerned
about
the
Monday
cut-off
date.
Why?
Because
the
Chevrolet
and
Buick
dealer
had
already
put
an
end
to
Cash
for
Clunkers
sales
on
Saturday.

“It
was
very
tough
on
dealers,”
said
Scudder,
who
reported
that
Christman’s
has
yet
to
receive
payment
on
around
a
dozen
deals.
Based
on
even
conservative
estimates,
that
means
the
dealership
is
waiting
on
between
$40,000
and
$50,000
in
government
rebates.

“Dealers
don’t
have
the
kind
of
working
capital
to
float,”
he
said,
although
some
car
dealerships
were
willing
to
take
more
of
a
risk
than
others.

“We
were
very
careful,”
reported
Scudder,
who
admitted
that
if
they
had
been
more
confident
in
the
way
the
program
was
administered
on
the
federal
level,
they
would
have
been
more
likely
to
jump
in
“with
both
feet.”

That
said,
Scudder
wasn’t
completely
dissatisfied
with
the
program.
It
certainly
did
help
drive
traffic
at
the
dealership,
he
reported.
And
while
not
every
potential
buyer
was
a
candidate
for
the
Cash
for
Clunkers
program,
that
didn’t
stop
them
from
converting
the
interested
party
into
a
vehicle
sale.

According
to
Jim
Bleyle,
the
program
did
succeed
in
sparking
an
interest
among
consumers
and
increase
the
number
of
potential
car
buyers
visiting
Chenango
Sales,
the
dealership
he
co-owns
south
of
Greene.
But
the
mix
of
people
it
brought
in,
weren’t
exactly
what
he
was
expecting.

“I
thought
there
would
be
more
local
people,”
said
Bleyle,
who
reported
that
the
Ford,
Lincoln
and
Mercury
dealership
saw
a
flood
of
prospective
buyers
from
outside
the
area.
Many,
he
explained,
were
from
more
metropolitan
areas
where
dealer
inventories
had
already
been
depleted.
Bleyle
and
his
partner,
Byron
Miller,
exercised
caution
however.

“We
decided
that
if
we
were
going
to
stick
our
neck
out,
we’d
do
it
locally,”
Bleyle
explained.

And
who
can
blame
them,
when
on
average
80
percent
of
applications
were
being
rejected
across
the
board.
The
burden
of
proof
was
on
dealerships
to
gather
and
verify
the
necessary
information
and
documents,
he
explained.

“We
became
policemen
in
this
program,”
he
said,
adding
that
if
Cash
for
Clunkers
is
repeated,
perhaps
that
onus
should
fall
more
on
consumers.

..

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